Text/Xu Ben

This article first appeared in China Newsweek, No.8265438 +0.

September 8th is the International Literacy Day advocated by UNESCO, and this year's theme is "Literacy in the Digital World". "Literacy" (also called "reading and writing") is an inappropriate Chinese translation here, because literacy never just refers to "literacy", but refers to reading and writing, that is, "reading and writing".

Of course, the standard of "literacy" in the United Nations will not be as low as just literacy. According to the definition of UNESCO, literacy refers to the ability to read and write simple sentences in daily life, that is, literacy. More precisely, it should refer to the educational level, including the ability to recognize, understand, explain, create, communicate, calculate, express and read various printed, computer-displayed and CD-ROM images. The meaning of literacy can also include understanding and using symbol systems related to ethnic groups. Therefore, literacy is often translated into "literacy", which is a kind of "understanding" ability of media characters, images and other symbols.

There is a considerable distance between literacy and understanding. The importance of understanding lies in its essential independent thinking and analysis, that is, judgment. Judgment is an essential intellectual ability for reading and writing. As early as the17th century, Milton, an English poet, emphasized the relationship between reading and judgment and put forward the concept of "being suitable for readers". In his great poem Paradise Lost, he expected his poems to find capable readers. He believes that reading poetry is a way for a person to become a qualified reader. This is similar to reading classics and deep reading as the basic training to improve students' thinking ability today.

Literacy is not only for reading, but also for thinking and judging. Milton's masterpiece On Freedom of the Press (1644) best embodies this reading concept in his works. He opposes censorship and suppression of freedom of speech. The fundamental reason is that human thinking and judgment ability are not exclusively owned by people with special status and identity, but can be owned by ordinary readers. Readers don't need children's protection from above, nor do they need the government to protect them from "bad" books in this way.

Milton believes that readers are not as stupid, shallow, credulous and unstable as they think. What hurts readers is not the contents or words in the book, but the so-called "dangerous ideas" that will not be exposed to them. The biggest danger that readers may encounter is that when they really encounter bad content or fallacies, they cannot distinguish and resist them.

Milton believes that good reading can form the habit of cherishing and using freedom of conscience. Without this habit, understanding and independent judgment based on free choice would be impossible. Needless to say, his concept of reading is an ideal, and it is difficult to become a reality even in today's world.

Since18th century reading began to be popularized in modern society, there has always been a problem of high or low quality. Today, we may be able to prove this problem with different admission levels. However, we know that even if we go to school or even college, it doesn't necessarily mean that we have the ability to read and write with quality.

/kloc-in the 0/8th century, when reading and writing were just popularized in Europe, people's "literacy rate" was estimated according to their signatures on official documents at that time (such as wills, marriage documents, testimony of religious courts, etc.). If they can't sign their own names, they will draw a cross or make a mark. In New England, the literacy rate comes from signed wills. In Britain and France, wedding witnesses must be registered in the parish, which requires the signature of the parties.

Researchers also use some other methods to estimate the literacy rate. For example, in Sweden in the18th century, the Lutheran church sent people to go door to door to check the knowledge of the Bible. In the 20th century, fascist governments in Germany and Italy actively used reading and writing for ideological rule. Therefore, they attach more importance to education for all than democratic governments and encourage people to read books and newspapers. The Soviet government also actively promoted the nationwide reading and illiteracy eradication campaign. The most frequently quoted by literacy officials is Lenin's teaching that "a capitalist society cannot be established in an illiterate country" and that "illiteracy will only stay out of politics". Educating farmers is to let them join Lenin's "politics", so literacy has become a political task. Literacy in the Soviet Union was very successful. By 1939, the literacy rate of men in the Soviet Union reached 95% and that of women reached 79%. People can read Pravda when they know the word.

Author: Xu Ben, a professor at St Mary's College in California, USA.